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DefectiveByDesign activists have been tireless in finding and labeling DRM-infected products on Amazon with tags like "defectivebydesign" and "drm". There's another new tag to watch for when you're shopping,
"drmfree". The use of the tag is obvious but the story behind it is important — it's being applied and promoted by authors who want to advertise the fact that they don't like Digital Restrictions Management and don't want it applied to their works.

Free Software advocacy associations April (France/Belgium) and Associazione per il software libero (Italy) have launched a joint campaign aimed at the European Parliament elections in early June. The campaign invites citizens to ask candidates to sign the Free Software Pact.

The huge cash-stuffed MS bullied TomTom to settlement, but according to SFLC "The FAT filesystem patents on which Microsoft sued are now and have always been invalid patents in our professional opinion." I can't wait until somebody erases the smile off of Ballmer's face.

Tim Berners Lee on software patents: "the Supreme Court actually declined to extend patent protection to software algorithms, preferring to leave the matter to congress. In this feature, we'll take a close look at the Supreme Court's classic trio of software patent decisions. We'll explore what the Supreme Court originally said about the patentability of software, how the court distinguished between software and non-software patents, and what the consequences would be if lower courts more aggressively applied the limits on software patents that the Supreme Court articulated a generation ago."

A good start: The President ordered federal agencies in a memorandum released today to approach the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) "with a clear presumption: in the face of doubt, openness prevails."

Apple's USB engineers have confirmed off the record that it was a conscious move to prevent iPhone customers to jailbreak their phone. It's amazing the amount of disrespectful behavior that Apple manages to throw at its customers without losing their loyalty. It is really a cult, in the end.